Booster Programme 2025
Welcome to the 7th edition of the PhD Booster programme of UNIGE’s Faculty of Medicine
The PhD Booster aims to empower PhD students in life sciences by providing grants to advance their careers and enhance their communication and outreach skills. Our goal is not only to offer a highly formative and career-enhancing experience but also to promote young talents in biomedical research and secure grants that benefit their careers.
In addition to a new public prize award, we offer a coaching opportunity to all the candidates. This coaching helped them improve their project presentations and prepare to present effectively on camera, providing them with a valuable experience for their future careers.
Meet the winners of this year’s seventh edition: Ania, Cédric, Dimitrios, Maria and Riccardo. Watch the video presentations of their thesis projects and discover the fascinating research our PhD students are conducting in just a few minutes.
Warmest thanks to the Fondation privée des HUG, the Fondation Hubert Tuor and Mme Jean Pastré for their support.
Dora Godinho, Head of Partnerships
Prof. Stéphanie Hugues, Vice-Dean for Careers, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Platforms
Winners of the 2025 edition
Ania Wisniak
Empowering communities for cervical cancer screening in rural Cameroon
Cedric Renaud
How pancreatic cells can learn to make insulin: innovative therapies for diabetes
Dimitrios Daskalou
Tumor radiation and hearing loss: overcoming the dilemma
Maria Dimou
Cracking brain signals for epilepsy care
Riccardo Galli
When half the world is missing: brain training after a stroke
Winner of the new Public Award
All the 2025 projects
Alcidia Ramos Barros
From liquid to powder: reinventing dengue vaccines
Alessandra Panzeri
How the brain–heart dialogue shapes autism
Alina Batiuk
Balancing the building blocks of life
Boya Zhang
A health question? Ask a reliable AI
Deepti Rawat
Hide, survive, infect: inside the survival playbook of a pathogen
Joanna Sobocinska
Tearing down lung cancer cells’ protective shield
Joshua Tran
The art of shaping cell membranes
Luigi Saccaro
Breaking the cycle of emotion dysregulation
Luis Castillo Cantero
Rewriting cancer's narrative with next-generation CAR T cells
Mélanie Fourgeaud
Muscle stem cells to fight duchenne muscular dystrophy
Mohit Mohit
Saving Sight with Science (3S)
Paula Torres Rodriguez
The boost that matters: protecting those at risk
Raphaël Néré
Calcium, fat and immunity: the three-body problem
Valeria Catapano
Muscle formation and repair: the mysterious protein EB2